Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev19980215.htm

ACTS: THE LOCAL CHURCH AS GOD'S AGENCY FOR DISCIPLING MEN
Part XXIX: God's USE Of INESCAPABLE CONFLICT To Direct Christian Ministries
(Acts 13:4-13)
  1. Introduction
    1. Ephesians 4:1-3 admonishes Christians to endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
    2. However, that is not always possible, for sometimes unavoidable conflict arises, conflict that you just cannot escape, and it seems to reach out and grab Christians, permanently altering their life directions. Someone may leave the body, another may split off a group, and there may be an exchange of leaders, all to the confusion and upsetting of the group.
    3. Well, when such unavoidable conflicts arise, they are not an accident, but divinely permitted events, and the events in Acts 13:4-13 demonstrate it for us:
  2. God's USE of INESCAPABLE CONFLICT To Direct Christian Ministries, Acts 13:4-13.
    1. When Barnabas and Saul were sent out on their first missionary assignment from Antioch, we read in Acts 13:4 that they were sent out by the Holy Spirit.
    2. However, the location they went was affected by the one who was leading the group, the man Barnabas:
      1. Up until this point in the book of Acts, Barnabas' name always appears before Saul's name, indicating that Barnabas was considered the leader of their team, cf. 13:2,7 & Bib. Know. Com., N.T., p. 387.
      2. As Barnabas was the leader and himself hailed from Cyprus according to Acts 4:36, he naturally felt they should evangelize his homeland of Cyprus, and took the team by ship to that Island, Acts 13:4.
    3. Well, it was the will of the Holy Spirit that Saul be the leader of the team as Saul was the Apostle, and now that they were in strong Gentile territory, Saul's understanding of the Gentile mind demanded that he be in the lead best to facilitate the ministry outreach! Accordingly, the Spirit allowed an upsetting and inescapable conflict to arise to switch the leadership roles around!
      1. Up until Barnabas and Saul ran into the opposing sorcerer, Elymas, the book of Acts, as late as Acts 13:7 mention the duo with Barnabas' name first!
      2. However, when Elymas withstood them, the Spirit led Saul -- NOT BARNABAS -- to confront the sorcerer in no uncertain terms to resist his obstruction of the Gospel, Acts 13:8-10.
      3. In fact, as proof that Saul's bold address was of God, when he announced that Elymas would be blind for a time, the miracle came to pass, something even Barnabas couldn't withstand, Acts 13:11!
      4. As a result, the deputy official Elymas was seeking to keep from Christ believed the Gospel, Acts 13:12.
      5. Well, beginning with the verse where Saul addresses Elymas, the book of Acts switches the Jewish name for Saul to his Gentile, Roman name of Paul, and stays that way until he gets back into Jewish Christian circles in Jerusalem, Ibid., p. 388.
      6. Also, the names of Paul and Barnabas switch their order, and Barnabas begins to follow Paul, Ibid.
      7. Also, at this point, an interpersonal conflict arose with John Mark, and he left them for Jerusalem:
        1. Paul led the company to leave Perga Cyprus by boat to go north to Pamphylia, Acts 13:13a.
        2. However, John Mark who was tagging along with them was Barnabas' cousin, Col. 4:10, and he may well have been upset at Paul's sudden exercise of headship of the team. On the other hand, he may have been fearful of facing more conflicts between Paul and more opponents like the sorcerer, Elymas. At any event, for negative reasons according to Acts 15:38, h e left them just after Paul had assumed headship, leaving them at Pamphylia to return to his home in Jerusalem, Acts 12:12; 13:13.
Lesson: For the good of their outreach to Gentile territories, God so filled the Gentile-area-equipped Saul that he assumed the headship in addressing a critical conflict that the missionaries faced, and that though it cost them the team me mber, John Mark in an added conflict.

Application: (1) We should not dread inescapable conflicts even with believers, for GOD allows these to MOBILIZE us to maximize His Church's progress. (2) Like Paul and Barnabas, we can only head on into the Cyprus we have planned with Barnabas at the lead and Mark tagging along. As we cannot know that both elements are not within God's will, we like Saul and Barnabas must merely trust God's sovereignty through unsettling events to correct these things to His glory!